It seems to me that everyone is suddenly in love with their own face. Everyone except me, that is. Especially teenagers have a weird desire to take pictures all the time – of themselves.

I find selfies just bizarre. Taking a selfie seems to be appropriate anywhere and any time.

To me, changing my Facebook profile picture once or twice a year is a chore. I can’t even remember the last time I took a selfie, but it was years ago.

Taking a selfie seems to be appropriate anywhere and any time.

Hey, I look nice today!

The mentality that drives people into taking selfies seems to be that if you look particularly good one moment, you have to SHOW THE WHOLE WORLD how good-looking you are and take a picture to PROVE IT. You can’t just think “hey, I look nice today” and move on with your life, oh no no no, the world needs to know!

Once that perfect selfie gets uploaded to Facebook, Instagram or wherever, it will instantly be liked and commented by way too many people. The gorgeousness of the person will be praised in a way that just seems odd to me. Are all those people really serious? Are all those comments actually honest? I just don’t get it.

This is nothing new

If you spent a lot of time admiring yourself in the mirror, people would probably think you were stupid and vain. But if you spend that same amount of time taking pictures of yourself instead, no one questions it.

On the other hand, as a history nerd, I do understand that this is nothing new, at least not as much as many people think. As someone so hilariously put it on Tumblr: “‘Selfie culture’ seems so tame by comparison when you realize that not only did old timey rich people spend a fortune commissioning artists to paint flattering images of them, they spent many hours
sitting for these portraits. Who’s the me generation now?”

About the author:

Mia Markki, student

Mia Markki is a 17-year-old Finnish high school student who writes about all the little, yet annoying, things in life. She enjoys baking (especially cookies) and reading. Her biggest passion is history and her ultimate role model is Kaari Utrio, a brilliant Finnish author and a very wise woman. She wishes to be able to write at least one novel herself in her lifetime. Or two. Or ten. She tries to undo the effects of all those cookies by exercising and especially likes zumba.

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Hello! I am Jack. I’m the police officer of Momio. If your kid uses Momio, they probably know me already, so I wanted to introduce myself to you too. I make sure that Momio is a fun and safe place for everyone.

On Momio, kids can share things that are important to them. They can also chat with their friends, have virtual pets and style themselves. Browsing Momio always brings a smile on my face. Most kids on Momio are nice and polite to each other and seem to know what makes sense to share and what doesn’t.

Unfortunately some kids come to Momio to troll or to bully, and when I see that, I take action! Some break the rules because they don’t think enough about the consequence of their post or because they don’t think they would get caught.

When someone’s behaviour needs to change, I send them a warning or give a timeout. These always include an explanation of what was done and why it’s not OK. They offer the kid a chance to think about their actions and to re-read the rules. Luckily only a very small percentage of users needs warnings or timeouts.

Most Momio users know me by my Safety Splashes. They are posts packed with tips on how to stay safe on the internet and on Momio. Reading the comments written by the kids reveals that they know incredibly much about internet safety. That I believe is thanks to parents, schools, media and the kids’ own curiosity.

Recently I asked the users how to spread good mood. I got lots and lots of comments. One of my favourite answers shows that the same rules apply both online and offline: “I can say nice and happy things to others. Today I noticed that a boy in our class was really good in handball but he wasn’t taking part in our game. We started to encourage him and that way got him to join the game.”

Kids are good at taking care of each other! Sometimes they need a little help, and that’s when I step in.

About the author:

Jack, Momio

Jack is one of the three brand characters on Momio. Together with the other two – Emily and Lucas – he welcomes all the new users so they are among good friends from the beginning.

Jack is the police officer of Momio. His special task is to make sure that Momio is a fun and safe place for everyone. He does that together with moderators who on Momio are called Jack’s helpers.